Employee Free Choice Act

Only 12.5% of private-sector employees belong to a union, yet over 59% claim they would belong to a union if they could choose freely. Who can blame them? Union workers gain higher wages and have better benefits. Yet forming a union in the US is filled with obstacles. If emplyers catch whiff that workers plan to form a union they can demand a secret ballot election held by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB establishes a 60-day period before the elections giving employers ample time to "bring in the troops", the union-busting firms that are specialists in campaigning against union drives and using legal tricks to postpone the actual vote. These firms organize large scale anti-union campaigns, including sending letters to worker's homes, organizing mandatory closed-door meetings against the unions. Many employers also hold one-on-one mandatory meetings with supervisors to pressure workers to vote against the union, threatening to close the workplace if the union wins the election. Most often, workers trying to organize have far fewer resources to oppose the power advantage of employers. One forth of employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during union drives. The NLRB is toothless against such violations by employers. The original National Labor Relations Act made it illegal to fire union workers, but one of its ammendments, the Wagner Act of 1935, allows employers to hire "permanent replacements".
On Dec. 10th, Human Rights Day, workers around the US will fight for the approval of the Employee Free Choice Act that among other things will allow workers to form a union by simply collecting card approvals from the majority of workers, by-passing the NLRB-process. One of the articles of the Universal Human Rights Charter is the right to form unions and to collective bargaining. A human right should not be a struggle. Workers should be able to organize freely. Let employers then learn to satisfy their demands. The US cannot compete with other low-wage countries, like China or India, by offering their workers low-wage, no-benefits jobs. Thats not how it will be able to keep factories and jobs from going abroad.
Check out the AFL-CIO website and American Rights at Work.